- Formed early in the war, each member of the Fluvanna militia had to take an oath to defend the Commonwealth of Virginia and renounce King George III as the land's sovereign. Though they trained well, the militia had little to do until 1780. The British, concentrating on major centers such as New York and Philadelphia, paid little attention to the Fluvanna arsenal because it was well out of the way of any of their planned campaigns.
- In early June 1781, Lt. Col. John Simcoe and about 400 troops detached from British Gen. Charles Cornwallis' main army in order to conduct a raid on American Gen. Friedrich von Steuben's main supply depot at Point of Fork in Fluvanna County, Virginia. Steuben learned of the raid on June 5, and called upon the local militia to assist his troops in the defense of the area.
- Steuben's first action was to order a rear guard out from Point of Fork in order to block the British advance and buy more time to prepare. These troops engaged in the first action of the Battle of Point of Fork, and though they were all eventually killed or captured, their sacrifice allowed Steuben and his remaining men enough time to move the arsenal's stores to the other side of the Fluvanna River before the British arrived.
- Simcoe, observing that the American militia and stores had both crossed to the other side of the river, faced a tough decision. He did not have any boats or pontoons with which to cross the river, and though he could force the crossing, he would likely lose a lot of his troops in the process. Instead, he lit dozens of campfires that evening in an attempt to convince Steuben that his force contained many more troops than it actually did. Steuben fell for this bluff, and retreated from his position on the river and destroyed some of his supplies, though much of it had to be abandoned.
Origins and Inactivity
Simcoe's Raid
Moving the Supplies
Ruse and Retreat
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